My favorite homemade gifts I gave this year were tea towels that I made out of one of my grandma’s recipes. I saw the idea on pinterest last year but didn’t have time to order the custom-printed fabric. After I cleaned up the recipe in Illustrator and sent it off to Spoonflower, the project was a quick one. Spoonflower didn’t print the fabric quite as straight as I had expected, but overall, I’m super happy with their linen/cotton blend. My family was THRILLED with the towels and I love them too. It seems super appropriate to have my grandmas handwriting hanging in my kitchen, reminding me of where I’ve come from.

Josh and I also made cutting boards for Christmas gifts. This was another project that I had planned for last year but needed a little help in the tool department to pull off. The wood is Pacific Island Maple and I think it’s beautiful. My favorite boards were the one’s with the most flaws. I still have a few in the basement that need sanding (not a small job) and I need to get down there and finish up one for me! I think part of what made these great was the coat of wood butter that I polished into each one. The wood butter was easy to make up and small jars of it made the perfect accompaniment to the cutting boards.

I also made sweaters for my nephews (although the sweater for the new baby is still in progress…ahem.)

And the kids teachers got jars of Peach Lavender Butter that Amy and I had the foresight to make this fall. (I just LOVE that recipe from Canning & Preserving by Ashley English.